Note
The Lehi group (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), better know as the Stern Gang from the name of his leader Avraham Stern, was a Zionist paramilitary organization founded in 1940 with the aim of evicting the British mandate rulers from Palestine and declare Zionist sovereignty on the region, from the River of Egypt, the Nile River, to the Euphrates River.
The methods employed are terrorist acts, first against the British authorities and then against the local Palestinian population. Amongst them we have:
- the assassination (1944) of Lord Moyne, the British Minister of State in the Middle East.
- the Deir Yassin massacre (1948) when they attacked the village of Deir Yassin killing at least 107 Palestinians, including women and children.
- the assassination (1948) of Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
To justify their methods the member of the group openly declared in their underground paper He Khazit (The Front) that
“Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. We are very far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have before us the command of the Torah whose morality surpasses that of any other body of laws in the world: Ye shall blot them out to the last man.”
Their manifesto of principles lists the aims of their organization, making absolutely clear that Palestine is a Zionist land and that all extraneous people should be expelled or eliminated to make room for masses of Zionist immigrants.
1. THE NATION
The Jewish people is a covenanted people, the originator of monotheism, formulator of prophetic teachings, standard bearer of human culture, guardian of glorious patrimony. The Jewish people is schooled in self-sacrifice and suffering; its vision, survivability and faith in redemption are indestructible.
2. THE HOMELAND
The homeland is the Land of Israel within the borders delineated in the Bible ("To your descendants, I shall give this land, from the River of Egypt to the great Euphrates River." Genesis 15:18). This is the land of the living, where the entire nation shall live in safety.
3. THE NATION AND ITS LAND
Israel conquered the land with the sword. There it became a great nation and only there it will be reborn. Hence Israel alone has a right to that land. This is am absolute right. It has never expired and never will.
4. THE GOALS
1. Redemption of the land. 2. Establishment of sovereignty. 3. Revival of the nation. There is no sovereignty without the redemption of the land, and there is no national revival without sovereignty.
These are the goals of the organization during the period of war and conquest.
5. EDUCATION
Educate the nation to love freedom and zealously guard Israel's eternal patrimony. Inculcate the idea that the nation is master to its own fate. Revive the doctrine that “The sword and the book came bound together from heaven.” (Midrash Vayikra Rabba 35:8)
6. UNITY
The unification of the entire nation around the banner of the Hebrew freedom movement. The use of the genius, status and resources of individuals and the channeling of the energy, devotion and revolutionary fervor of the masses for the war of liberation.
7. PACTS
Make pacts with all those who are willing to help the struggle of the organization and provide direct support.
8. FORCE
Consolidate and increase the fighting force in the homeland and in the Diaspora, in the underground and in the barracks, to become the Hebrew army of liberation with its flag, arms, and commanders.
9. WAR
Constant war against those who stand in the way of fulfilling the goals.
10. CONQUEST
The conquest of the homeland from foreign rule and its eternal possession.
These are the tasks of the movement during the period of sovereignty and redemption.
11. SOVEREIGNTY
Renewal of Hebrew sovereignty over the redeemed land.
12. RULE OF JUSTICE
The establishment of a social order in the spirit of Jewish morality and prophetic justice. Under such an order no one will go hungry or unemployed. All will live in harmony, mutual respect and friendship as an example to the world.
13. REVIVING THE WILDERNESS
Build the ruins and revive the wilderness for mass immigration and population increase.
14. ALIENS
Solve the problem of alien population by exchange of population.
15. INGATHERING OF THE EXILES
Total in-gathering of the exiles to their sovereign state.
16. POWER
The Hebrew nation shall become a first-rate military, political, cultural and economical entity in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean Sea.
17. REVIVAL
The revival of the Hebrew language as a spoken language by the entire nation, the renewal of the historical and spiritual might of Israel. The purification of the national character in the fire of revival.
18. THE TEMPLE
The building of the Third Temple as a symbol of the new era of total redemption.